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Published by Bunnington Post editor-in-chief

Superstar bunnies living the good life in rural Oxfordshire providing a running commentary on world affairs from the lagomorph perspective. Increasingly exasperated with politicians and not afraid to say so.
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8 Comments

ok thank you Flo, he seems to have settled down and is now just sat still, the problems with living on the isle of wight we have no rabbit savy vets!!! I took him about 7 weeks ago to my vets because he was acting like a drunk wobbling all over the place and the vet checked his ears and said they fine and he said smokey had E C, and put him on a course of panacur for 28 days within a few days smokey then developed a head tilt, he is still eating and drinking, he seems to gone asleep so I will take him back to the vets in the morning and ask about the norocillin you said helped Bouffe and see if they will put him on that, and I will stay up tonight and try and sort a space in my house the problem is I already have 2 boys in the front room so I cant really put him in there, so I think it might have to be in the conservatory, I have another problem I my house I live out in the sticks and have become over run with mice inside and out so will try and build something to keep them away from him too??

Yes, certainly talk to your vet about treating him with penicillin for good measure. The trouble with ears is that you cannot see into the middle and inner ear to see if there is a problem there. We only knew it was an ear infection causing Bouffe’s problems because he had been operated on the ear to remove an abscess on his ear canal. Many vets will treat with a penicillin preventatively.

I am told Norocillin is hard to get (if memory serves me well, something to do with licensing) but Bouffe benefitted from a different one called Duphapen Fort the same as before.

I also had a look on Frances Harcourt-Brown’s website to see if there are recommended vets on the Isle of Wight and found one: Green and Forster in Carisbrooke. Such information can be outdated of course but I thought it worth a shot! Here is a link:

Hi again Flo,
I rang the vets and got a telephone consertation with the only vet that knows abit more about bunnies, told him about how you where treating Bouffe with the norocilliin and he was a little unsure about giving Smokey that just yet… he has given me another course of panacur for 28 days saying it might not of got rid of all the parasite the first time round… if this does not help this time then he will try Smokey on a course of norocillin, he is not sure if it is E C he said it could be a tumor or a few other problems??
I have now got Smokey indoors in his own pen in the conservatory but and have got a plug in of pet remedy on as this helped one of my rabbits in the front room who was frightened of his own shadow and now lies spread out with his brother so hopefully this will help smokey settle in to his new surroundings,
Question I’m hoping you can help me with? tonight he has had a couple of really bad spinning fits where he is just rolling over and over in a circle in his pen and then stopping still upside down and looking like he is dead!! he has managed to get himself up after these but do I just let him do this or do I try and stop him rolling? he is moving around his pen ok and then he starts spinning?rolling could this be the stress of his move into a different place?
green and foster is the vet I use on the island but thanks for looking 🙂

Hm, sounds more like EC than anything to me (with my limited experience). To answer your question, yes, we did go over and held Bouffe and Bink each time they started spinning and rolling while we were around them, and put them back on their feet or in a comfortable position. Bouffe seemed to calm down from this and frequent cuddles, Bink (who had an EC tilt) less so. still, it seemed to help him somewhat while we felt like we were helping, too.

Maybe you could restrict his space for a while so he hits something soft and supportive every time he loses his balance. It seemed to calm Bouffe down. We made it bigger as he improved. He was a little disoriented too when we’d moved him into a different room but he adjusted quite quickly (two, three days).

Oh my gosh…I am so SO very sorry for your loss. 😥 😥 I’ve been on an all things ‘social media’ break for a spell, followed you via twitter as “Book Gobbler”, was totally shocked to see this via twitter email updates tonight…there are really just no words….

…please know that this sweet bun had one hell of a wonderful, blessed life with you for many amazing years. Thank you thank you thank you for sharing him with everyone, and for showing the world that there is life and love to share with a special needs bun – the key word being special. So very, very special.

we have felt consoled by the many messages from Bouffe’s friends around the world. We can’t seem to adjust to his absence… All bunnies leave a huge hole and Bouffe’s is particularly large. Hopefully his story continues to help more bunnies elsewhere. Another consoling thought for us!

Please flo can you help me, I have a rabbit smokey who has a headtilt the vet gave me panacur for him which I gave him for the 28 days and was hoping he was getting better but tonight when I went outside to curtain him and the other bunnies I have he was flipping over and getting stuck half way 😦 I don’t know what to do??? is he going to be ok or is this the end for him?? should I bring him indoors and biuild him a special indoor pen? he is outside in his own pen next to my other 5 bunnies, It was horrid to see him do this please help some one has told me to get him put to sleep but I don’t want to do that if I can help him??

oh dear Carron, how distressing! Yes, I would bring him inside myself, and give him a safe little corner where he can’t hurt himself. He needs to be seen by a vet as soon as you can, too, and this needs to be rabbit savvy vet. Sadly, not all vets are…

It may be that Smokey is having seizures which is causing the flipping, a bit like epilepsy. Is your vet convinced it is e.c. that’s causing the problems? Have they looked into the possibility that Smokey has an ear infection?

I would certainly recommend having him inside tonight and giving him a small, safe space. Maybe line a laundry basket with towels or a big enough cardboard box – something that stops him from hurting himself and that he cannot fall out of. Bouffe seemed to feel safe when he had a smallish and soft enclosure and it calmed him down.